


A Twist of Fae

by Burningchaos



Category: Roswell (TV), The Dresden Files - Jim Butcher
Genre: Abandoned Work - Unfinished and Discontinued, Crossover, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-12-30
Updated: 2008-12-30
Packaged: 2018-08-20 08:42:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 7,895
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8243272
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Burningchaos/pseuds/Burningchaos
Summary: Spoilers: Dresden Files books up to and including Small FavorLiz soon finds out how wrong and right Ava was about her being different during the course of Harry fulfilling his last favor.Notes: I am meshing the timelines, by moving the Roswell timeline in to the Dresden Files book timeline. Everything in Roswell, up to the end of S1 has happened.





	1. Chapter 1

_Chicago….present day_

The day had been particularly dreary and slow, something Harry felt he could get behind on occasions; after all his dismal, but welcome, paycheck from being a Warden wasn’t enough to pay the bills. 

Except thinking the day was dreary and slow had been his downfall and in like most things; hindsight was twenty-twenty. 

When she showed, he’d been thinking of visiting Billy and Georgia. He hadn’t had a decent visit with them since their wedding, and with the quietness it seemed like the perfect time.

Big mistake. 

His office door opened and the room shivered. 

Mab.

Queen Mab of the Unseelie Court had come to call. He was fucked. She didn’t show up for tea… She wasn’t that sort. Nope, if she was here things were going south. Fast.

“Your Godmother sends her greetings.” 

“Uh, wow, a letter would have saved you sometime but thanks. Is that all you stopped by for cause I was heading out….” 

“Sit.” Harry felt his knees give way under the pressure of her command. 

“Yeah, sure, I have a few minutes before I have to leave.”

Grimalkin reveled itself as Mab moved closer, its voice echoing through out the room, hollow and cold. “It is time to fulfill your duties to me.”

There went his week. 

“I’m kinda busy, you know, with training Molly, keeping her away from Carlos, trying to date….” Harry grimaced…“not a lot of time here right now,” 

Mab loomed over him with her cat like eyes, frosty pale skin, lips the color of ripe raspberries and long hair that was whiter then the purest snow. Her frozen beauty was to exquisite to look upon, painful in fact, yet he could hardly tear his eyes away. 

_“You are bound to do me three favors in all Harry Dresden; you have filled two of those three. Now I call upon you to fill your third and final favor.”_

“Hells Bells.” Harry shivered.

Harry forced himself to his feet, “I choose…”

“Not this time.” Her voice this time not Grimalkin’s ….the air shivered under the force of her presence, ice formed on his skin. “There is no choice.”

“No, wait…” 

“Maeve is dead.”

Harry stumbled back into his seat. “I’m sorry.”

“I’m not. She was weak,” Mab looked away as she spoke, her actions belaying her words, “she was my daughter but she was weak. I have called the new lady.” Mab turned her ice blue eyes back on him, pinning him to his seat. 

“The new lady….” 

“Yes, the new Lady. She is not a creature of winter, a Halfling of Summer instead, but I have chosen her. She is strong. Winter needs that strength and you, Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden, will do exactly as I say.” 

The weight of his name drove him to his knees. A cool ice tipped finger tipped his chin up so he could see the resolve in Mab’s eyes. He looked away. “I’ll bring her, but you need to let her choose as all Halflings do, or I’ll fight you till my last breath.”

“You are such a delicious human.” Mab stepped away from him and once again Grimalkin was speaking in her stead. “I’ll let her chose but no words from your mouth may hinder her decision. You are bound to me in this, and in deed.” 

Harry nodded, he could find away around this, Fae rules were literal. 

Mab walked toward the door and turned around before her hand touched the handle. “Harry, should you find away to deny me my Lady, my new daughter, I will take that which you love the most from you. Thomas would make a lovely, vicious and strong winter knight, don’t you agree?” And in an instant, before he could protest she was gone. 

 

_Roswell High…Present Day_

Liz shivered the laughter around her faded away and she felt consumed by a cold clawing its way through her from within. It’d been happening for weeks now, since the revelations at the cave… since she walked away from Max. 

The sense of foreboding, that she was accustomed to, had magnified a thousand fold. She could feel eyes on her in the shadows, her skin burned, and her mind itched; things she hadn’t thought possible. There were things, just out of sight, but there, she knew they were, but she couldn’t actually see them well enough to identify them. 

She could feel the other’s eyes on her. The Pod Squad, Maria, Alex. She could see the worry etched on their faces, and she knew they wondered if it was because of her decision to walk away from all things’ Alien. 

But it wasn’t that, it was something else entirely. Liz didn’t know what it was, what was happening to her but it had nothing to do with Max and the others. 

“Liz?” Michael’s hands steadied her as she twisted and almost tripped. His voice had startled her, as did his presence. Not a single member of the Pod squad had talked to her since she’d left the cave that day. She’d even felt a distance building between her, Maria and Alex. 

They were becoming strangers.

“Michael, you startled me.” Liz smiled up at him, the skin under his hand was the only warm spot on her body, and the longer he touched her the warmer she became. 

“Are you…Liz, what’s wrong?” Michael looked down at her, everything he’d planed on saying, every thought other then concern fled. Liz was pale, her skin like ice, if he hadn’t known better he was think she was in shock. But he did, she was standing before him, uninjured and yet not his…no, Max’s Liz. 

She was distracted, quite, withdrawn

“Nothing’s wrong.” Liz moved from his grasp, and visibly flinched as his warmth fled from her body. He reached out for her again, and she stepped further away. “Honestly, I am fine.” 

“You lie like shit.” 

“Well enough to keep your secrets.” Liz retorted tartly. Something bitter was building inside her; it was a foreign as everything else she was feeling so she pushed it away. 

Michael loomed over her. “When you want to tell me what the hell is wrong, you know where I live.” He frowned at her and stormed away.

Liz sagged against the lockers, she wanted to go home and cry. This wasn’t her, this wasn’t who she was.


	2. Chapter 2

_Chicago…two hours later_

Harry let himself into his apartment, and once again mentally reminded himself to fix the zombie damaged door. He was getting tired of the metal on metal scraping and he was fairly sure he was going to need to shut it quickly someday soon at wouldn’t be able too. 

Mister looked at him from the top of the bookshelf disdainfully, snorted and turned his tail toward him. “Cat food… right.” Harry looked over to Mouse who was grinning happily, “Well at least someone loves me.” 

Mister turned his wide cat eyes on him again and Harry swore he heard the cat mutter , “Dogs.” Oh yes, this was going to be a long week; he was already experiencing auditory hallucinations. 

Harry stripped off his leather duster, hat, hung up his gun then set his blasting rod and staff in the umbrella stand. Everything was a steady routine as he tried to wrap his mind around the fact that Maeve was dead. 

The Lady of Winter and he held no love for one another, but that didn’t mean he didn’t feel a sense of loss. She was familiar, a known entity; pseudo-enemy he could slightly predict. Plus there was the issue of power. Winter was even more out of balance then ever, and soon the weather would reflect that, not to mention Mab’s insanity. Although she was covering it well, Harry knew those who killed her daughter would suffer an eternity. 

Now Winter was without a Knight and a Lady; he needed to move quickly, and not just for his brother’s sake. He pushed aside the rug covering his lab, pulled the trap door open and started down the wooden ladder. The candles in the room flared to life after he murmured a quick spell and Bob’s orange eyes blinked at him. 

“Ah, Harry, how did you know I finished my last book mere moments ago?” 

“Whatever. We have work Bob. Maeve is dead and Mab has come a callin’, she wants her last favor, yesterday.”

“Maeve is dead?” Bob’s voice shook. 

“Yep, and Mab has the new lady all picked out for me to fetch. I just have to find her and bring her home for Mummy to brand.”

“Very funny, Harry. This is bad… very, very bad.”

“How do I find the new Lady?” 

“What did Mab say?” 

_“She is not a creature of winter, a Halfling of Summer instead, but I have chosen her.”_ Harry repeated Mab’s words verbatim. He thought about them as they rolled off his tongue and instantly knew the answer.

“Lily.” Harry and Bob voiced the answer in unison. 

“Great, Winter Court, and now the Summer Court. At least Summer isn’t trying to kill me anymore.” 

“That you know of. Harry, helping Mab steal a summer Halfling will not endear you to Titania and you know how she already feels about you.”

“No choice.” Harry gathered up some potions, a few new spells he thought might come in handy and headed out of the lab. “Gotta call Fix.”

“Bring me more books!” Bob yelled at Harry’s retreating form. “Or hey, let me out for the night….” He trailed off. 

Harry ignored Bob, and hurried over to the phone. He quickly called Fix and set up a meeting with him and Lily. The fact that they were so eager to meet with him had him worried, but then again they were knew the situation. They had to. Harry paused for a moment and called Thomas. 

“You busy?”

“No, I am only knee deep in customers, Harry, but I live to serve you. What do you need?”

“Less sarcasm, a good lay…oh you meant what do I need from you… I’m meeting Fix and Lily in a few hours. I could use you.”

“McNallys?”

“Where else?”

“Fine, I’ll meet you there, and Harry…”

“Yeah?”

“You’re buying.”

Harry hung up laughing. He knew he could count on his brother, besides this way he could keep an eye on him and do Mab’s dirty work all at the same time. 

 

_McNally's_

 

“Roswell, New Mexico?” 

“Yes,” Lily answered primly. 

“How did you know what…” Harry watched her face darken, “You know, never mind.”

“Harry,” Lily paused, and took a deep breath, “Maeve was no friend of mine, but I too wish to find her assassin.” She held her hand up to stave off any comments, “I know you go to search for the new Winter Lady but be wary. Where you go, things are not as they seem. There are things there that do not answer to the accords, fairy law or even human law. They are not of us.” Lily looked at the table and traced the grain of the wood with her finger tips.

“So, what you are saying, there are actual Aliens there?” Harry didn’t like this. Lily wasn’t being difficult; she wasn’t acting like a typical fairy. She was being open and honest and that freaked him out just a bit.

“There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Mister Dresden, then you and I will never know.” Lily stood, and Fix was instantly at her side. “Just know that if you look, you will see them easily enough, and know that also…My Queen is not... happy. She allows this to happen only because I was originally a creature of Winter before I became the Summer Lady. This restores the balance.” Lily and Fix turned as one, once again the Summer Lady and Summer Knight.

“So road trip?” Thomas asked causally. 

“Nope no time to drive, we need to make this happen now.”

“So the Nevernever it is.”

Roswell...later that night

Liz stood under the hot shower, she’d turned the cold water off completely. Yet she couldn’t feel the heat. It was as if the water was turning to ice as it touched her skin. She shivered, turned the water off and dried off. 

She pulled on socks, sweat pants, a t-shit and a sweater. It was almost a hundred degrees outside and she felt like she was suffering from hypothermia. She couldn’t ever remember being this cold. 

Crawling onto her bed she pulled all the covers up to her neck and felt no comfort. She was afraid. Liz closed her eyes and tried to sleep, unaware that her mother was watching her from the doorway, frowning.


	3. Chapter 3

Liz walked through the halls in a daze. She couldn’t focus, it was as if there was always something on the edge of her vision, hearing, everything and she just couldn’t make it out. She could almost see it, she could almost hear it, almost touch/taste/smell it but…it made her ache with an unfamiliar longing. 

She opened her locker, glad the day was over. She didn’t work tonight, which would save her from the stares and whispers in the Pod Squad’s corner. If she had been a lesser person, she would have let her father ban Max and Tess. But she wasn’t. Beside, she had too much on her plate right now to worry about them and their antics. 

“Hey, Parker.” Liz looked up and sighed. She didn’t need this, seriously. She’d avoided Michael and his odd looks all day. 

“Love the hair.” He grabbed her bag, shouldered it, and shut her locker door. 

“Excuse me?” Liz cocked her head at him. 

Michael reached out and fingered a lock of her hair. “Yeah, you’re rocking the blonde, brain loss and all.” 

Liz felt her world skitter to a halt. “Blonde?” She whispered, and rushed to the girl’s room. She heard Michael calling her name and following her, pushing through the bathroom door after her. Liz touched her hair; her dark brown hair was now a golden yellow, peppered with lighter streaks. Her eyes met Michael’s in the mirror. “I didn’t do this. It wasn’t like when I got ready this morning.” 

“What are you saying?” Michael frowned and reached out turning her around so he could better read her expression. “Shit, your fucking freezing!” He yanked his hand away as quickly as he placed it on her. “What the hell is going on, Liz?” 

A crystallized tear fell from her eye and shattered against the tile floor. “I don’t know.” 

 

Harry checked his equipment…  
Gun…Check  
Coat…Check  
Staff…Check  
Blasting Rod…Check  
Kinetic Rings…Check

“Harry…if you needed to be alone you should have said so.” Thomas looked at his brother with a slightly exasperated expression. “Honestly, watching you feel yourself up is not high on my list of brotherly things to do today.”

“Thomas…”

“I’m just saying if you’re that desperate and in need of an audience I am sure Lara would love to come over and help you out. My sister is a giving woman that way.” Thomas watched the worried look on his brother’s face melt into one of annoyance and knew his job was done.

“Your sister is…” Harry searched for a foul enough word.

“A beautiful woman who desperately wants some alone time with you.” 

Harry snorted. “I’ll go with that. Although I think have me for dinner would be a more accurate description.”

“Yes, that too,” Thomas laughed for a moment, before sobering up. “Are we ready?” He wasn’t thrilled about this. Their last trip though the Never Never had been almost a disaster and he wasn’t sure that this one would end much better. 

“As we'll ever be.” Harry steeled himself and opened the way. “This should be an easy trip, especially since Tatiana is leaving me alone for the moment and I am Mab’s emissary once again.”

Thomas stepped though and sighed, “You shouldn’t have said that.” 

 

Liz stepped into her living room, Michael close on her heels, only to be greeted but her parents seemingly lying in wait. Her father stopped mid-pace and her mother sat calmly, her expression one of intense distaste. It was, to be honest, a familiar expression. 

“Lizzy Bear, sit down. We need to talk.” Her father had stated at her for a moment before he spoke. “Michael, go home.” 

The weight of Michael’s hand on her shoulder, the warmth that radiated from it, and how safe he made her feel despite all that was going on, made her take a stand “No. Whatever you can say to me you can say to him.” 

Her father stared at Michael before nodding his assent. “If it was Max, I would still say no, but…” He left the rest unsaid because it was‘t really necessary to say. Everyone knew how he felt about Max. 

Nancy looked like she wanted to protest and Michael hid a small smirk when he saw Jeff’s actions mirror his own. He stepped beside Liz, took her arm and sat down across from her parents. Liz was trembling beside him, her hand felt like a block of ice and he knew that whatever Jeff was going to say would explain this. He hated to admit it but he was afraid, and he had a feeling that this was going to be a common occurrence over the next few weeks. It left an uncomfortable feeling in his gut. 

“Your father has something to tell you, and to be honest I feel like I don’t need to be here. But he asked me too.” Nancy stared at Liz’s hair; this wasn’t the daughter she’d wanted, nor the girl child she’d agreed to raise. This… thing sitting in front of her wasn’t even wholly human. 

Jeff looked down t his wife, and frowned. “I thought, as her mother, you might offer her a bit of comfort.” 

Nancy’s face twisted into a unattractive sneer. “Ah yes, but we both know I am not her mother.” She looked over to a stricken Liz…”Oops,” stood up and walked out of the room. 

“Not my mother?” Liz’s voice was a whisper; Michael felt it more than heard it. 

“No, baby, she isn’t.” Jeff knelt in front of his daughter. “I have a story to tell you.”


	4. Chapter 4

“This seems almost too easy.” Thomas’s voice was wary as he spoke. Harry glanced toward his brother and saw he was scanning the area around them. Harry felt uneasy himself, he could feel eyes on them, following their every movement, yet know one, not a single resident of the Nevernever was bothering them. 

“Hell’s Bells, this is creepy.”

“You are the master of understatement.” Thomas turned in a half circle, his left hand white against his old Calvary sword’s grip. “They are out there, watching.”

“I know, and as long as they are only watching.” Harry could feel eyes lingering on his back, he could feel the itch in the back of his mind, his instincts pushing him to turn and destroy what ever was at his back. 

“I still don’t like it.”

“Neither do I, but we have to hurry. The fairy realm, and ours, is out of balance, again. Do you remember what happened with Aurora, rain of toads, odd weather patterns? Well, this is worse. That was a bullet, this is a nuclear explosion.” 

“Right, Ice Age, end of the world weather type stuff. I get that but…” Thomas stopped and started at his brother for a moment, “But who would have the power to kill a fairy queen and how in the hell do you think you can go up against them?”

“Well, Pinky, I’ll do the same thing I do every other time. Take them down or get my ass kicked trying.” 

Thomas scowled. “What makes you The Brain?”

“Thomas if you have to ask, I don’t need to answer.”

“I honestly don’t know why I ever saved your life.” 

“Because you didn’t have anything else better to do that month, now shut up and walk faster.” Harry frowned and quickened his pace. He didn’t like being Mab’s emissary, and he didn’t like walking in to the unknown like this but most of all he hated not having any choices.

Jeff sat quietly for a moment before beginning. “Your mother was... I had never seen anyone as physically or spiritually beautiful as she was. The second I saw her, the moment she looked at me I was gone.” Michael watched his eyes take on the far away quality of someone lost to their memories and tightened his grip on Liz’s hand. 

“I knew, even before she told me, that she wasn’t human.” 

“What?” Liz gasped brokenly. She felt numb, inside and out. Betrayed, again and this time by someone so much closer to her than Max. Her family, her blood…but not entirely. She clutched Michael’s hand even tighter. He and his warmth grounded her. 

Jeff looked at his daughter, his heart was breaking. He’d never thought she would change this much, he’d known she would have to chose but… “She was a Sidhe of the Summer Court, at one time she attended the Queen, Tatiana. It was the Queen’s love for your mother that allowed her to have you.” 

Michael was enthralled, Liz wasn’t human. Not entirely, she was like him. In a way. He suddenly felt closer to her than he ever had, and he had always felt closer to her than he’d let on. If it hadn’t been for Max…while he didn’t want to think about that right now, it was neither the time nor the place. His mind danced around the name Sidhe, he’d heard it before…”Wait, are you saying Liz is part fairy?”

Jeff winced, “They don’t like that term. But, yes.”

“Huh, okay than.” Michael shrugged his shoulders. Why not, after all he was a half human clone of a dead alien general. 

“What really happened to her? To my mother, that is.” Liz seemed frozen, her hand was as cold as a corpse, not that he’d held hands with many corpses but still…Michael stopped his thoughts abruptly. He was rambling. To himself. 

“The story about my girlfriend dying in a car accident was almost accurate. What was off about the story I told you was that she was killed by an emissary of winter, and she was carrying you at the time.” He hated telling this story. “Tatiana and Aurora came while you mother was dying. They were unable to heal her because she was pregnant with a Halfling. Your mother chose your life over hers; Tatiana sustained your mother’s life long enough for you to be born but was unable o do anything more.” 

“So another Sidhe killed my mother?” 

“Court politics and it was a human acting for the winter court not one of it’s denizens.” Jeff explained carefully. 

“So I am a Halfling of the Summer court and that is why all this is happening?” Liz felt as if she were teetering on the edge of oblivion. Everything she’d thought she’d known was a lie. Her whole life, the woman she’d thought was her mother, her relationship with Max, and even her friendship with Maria. Nothing was real. She felt Michael’s warmth flare through her again and realized that he’d never lied to her. She’d always known exactly where she stood with him. She looked down at their entwined hands and felt a surge of affection. 

“Yes, but that doesn’t explain away everything.” Jeff seemed puzzled and Michael didn’t like that. 

“What do you mean? What is happening to her than?” 

“I know she is being called to chose, she needs to decide if she wants to live her life as a Sidhe or a human, but the hair, her changing body temperature, none of that should be happening.”

“So you don’t know?” Michael knew his tone was disrespectful, but he was worried. He’d thought this was the answer, but it wasn’t. Now there were more questions, and Liz seemed like she was fading right in front of him.


	5. Chapter 5

Liz ripped her hand out of Michael’s grasp. Fury covered her face, and infused her body as she stalked across the room, hands fisted at her side. With each step the room became colder, her skin more crystalline, her hair paler. Whatever was changing her, her emotions were pushing it along.

“Liz, you need to calm down.” 

She turned and stared at him. “You have no right to tell me what to do. You are neither my lord, nor my master.” Something in her tone shook him to the core. She walked toward him, eyes narrowed in a predatory manner. “Your kind is nothing here, General. Nothing. Unneeded, Unwelcomed, Uninvited. A Blight on this planet. On My world.” Liz waved her hand toward him with a dismissive gesture and turned toward her father. 

Something cold, and for the lack of a better term, alien, raged its way through her. She felt herself crumbling under it, and yet welcoming the power. It wasn’t something she craved, yet there it was. Hers to have, to wield and she wanted it in a way she’d never wanted anything before. 

“You, Dear Father, are even less than he.” Liz waved the same hand toward Michael. “A human. A lying, destructive, deceiving human.” Jeff seemed pinned to his seat, his face awash with fear and guilt. 

Michael grabbed Liz from behind; his hands instantly covered with a thin film of ice, and twisted her around. “Stop this, right now!” He hated manhandling her this way, but he didn’t know what else to do. Her eyes were blue, an endless mind searing blue that was brighter than the sky, sapphires or the ocean and as cold as the Antarctic. Fear threaded its way through him again, this wasn’t the Liz he knew, the Liz he…it wasn’t her. 

Malicious laughter spilled from her lips, and he shook her once, her eyes holding his ruthlessly. “You dare touch me?” She cocked her head oddly as she spoke and Michael knew something terrible was about to happen. He hesitated for a second before letting her go and slapping her roughly. 

Liz stumbled backwards, and he reached out to catch her. She looked up at him, her eyes once again brown. The blood trickle of blood at the corner of her mouth gave him pause. He’d hit her, he’d had no choice but he suddenly felt as abusive and dirty as his former foster father. He looked as his hands, how huge and rough they were digging into her arms, the marks they were leaving and let go of her. Jeff rushed over to her, guided her to the couch and pushed her into sitting down. 

Michael watched them for a moment before rushing out of the room. He couldn’t be there, not after that, not with her blood on his hands. Michael ran down the stairs and out through the Crashdown and stopped. He would normally go to Max’s but not now, not after this. There was nowhere else, not really and then it hit him…The Pod chamber. 

 

Thomas pulled apple from his coat pocket and tossed it to his brother. Harry caught it with barely a glance, looked at it and calmly asked, “Do I look like a rabbit?”

“A rabbit? Why a rabbit, horses eat more apples that rabbits.”

Harry snorted, tossed his brother a look that screamed ‘whatever’ and took a bite. He chewed thoughtfully as he looked around and paused. Something was…off. The Nevernever was always funky looking but this…it was starting to look warped, as if the already twisted landscape was being twisted again by something foreign. 

“I think we are almost there.” Harry pointed toward what he was looking at. 

“Huh.” Thomas nonchalantly pulled a chocolate bar from his coat and started munching on it. “Well Lilly said we know it when we arrived.”

“Wait.” Harry looked at his apple and then at Thomas. “I get an apple and you get chocolate? That is just unfair.”

“Being a big brother isn’t about being fair.” Thomas smiled gamely. “Besides I don’t see you pulling snacks out, which means I get to pick what I want because I thought to bring them.” 

“Ugh,” Harry shook his head, decided to let Thomas have this skirmish and headed in the direction of the…wrongness. 

 

Mab gazed into to the pool of water, leaned forward, touched the tip of her index finger to it and watched as the ice crackled over the surface. She thought of Harry and instantly he and his brother appeared before her. The power of winter was bursting within her, barely contained she needed her new Lady and soon. Summer was in power at the moment, the table firmly within Tatiana’s grasp and for the first time Mab felt…relief. 

If her and Summer’s positions had been reversed…Mab wasn’t without reason there was balance and it was necessary. Besides if she were to win control, defeat Summer it had to be on her terms and by her means not as a result of some unknown’s actions. She was nobody’s pawn. A quick wave of her hand and the ice shattered. The denizens of the court rushed out of the room, mindful of her rage. Mab threw her head back, and screamed out her agony. 

She was the Queen of the Winter Court. She was Mab and she would have revenge for the loss of her daughter no matter the cost. Even if it meant destroying her beloved Morgan’s sons.


	6. Chapter 6

Michael walked around the pod chamber, his thoughts seething. He was an animal. He looked down at his hand, saw the thin line of Liz’s blood drying and cracking as he flexed it. With a quick turn he slammed his fist into the wall next to his pod. He closed his eyes, leaned his head against the wall and reminded himself this was why he couldn’t have what he wanted, why he couldn’t let himself feel for Liz what he did. It wasn’t about her being Max’s it was about him and his inability to control himself. It was about him being everything Max wasn’t.

He slid to the cool floor and wondered what the hell he was going to say to Liz when he saw her again. Michael closed his eyes and thought about what Liz had been like before… he winced just thinking about it… he’d slapped her. He had been afraid, truly afraid, but she was Liz, underneath whatever was causing this change, whatever she was turning into, she was Liz. She was everything that was alive and imperfect in the world. Everything he’d always wanted.

With a sigh Michael laid down on the floor. He wasn’t going home tonight, and this was the last place anyone would look for him. He pulled his jacket around himself tightly and laid his head on his arm. It wouldn’t be the first time he’d slept somewhere without a pillow or blanket.

 

Jeff held Liz as she sobbed. He rocked her back and forth gently, as he had when she was a child, her face tucked against his shoulder and tears soaking his shirt. He shushed her, told her it would be alright even when he knew it was a lie. Nothing would ever be alright again, and he knew it. There were strange forces at work in his daughter, forces that would pull her away from him, forces that would eventually sever her ties to humanity. He couldn’t explain how he knew. Maybe it was a father’s instinct; maybe it was something else, but he knew it just as certainly as he knew he loved her.

“Liz, sweetie, you need to rest.” He pulled her up and led her to her room. She followed him, her sobs soft hiccups now and her face swollen from the tears. She was his heart. The reason he went on and this was breaking him. She looked at him, with her hair now more white blonde than brown and snow pale skin when it hit him. A cold bitter ache lodged itself in his chest. Somehow Winter was attacking his daughter. Jeff pushed it aside, stamped it down and tucked her in, kissing her forehead softly and whispering a soft “I love you,” in her ear as she rapidly fell into a restless sleep.

He stood by her bed a moment longer, making sure she wouldn’t wake and went to his room to search for a number he thought he would never use. Somewhere he had a card that might lead him to the answers he needed and a way to save his only child.

 

Harry swore as his foot slipped off the rock he was using to boost himself higher. He looked down and saw the rock bounce past his brother’s head. Thomas shot him an evil glare and reached for another handhold.

“A fucking mountain, Harry.” Thomas panted, and Harry knew if his brother was out of breath he had to already be dead. His body must not have realized it yet, but there it was. He was dead. He had to be because they fought a hundred zombies, and Thomas had barely broken a sweat, so panting out of breath Thomas equaled a dead Harry. His hand slipped this time, the fleshy part of his palm grazing a sharp rock and cutting through his skin. Maybe not dead cause that hurt.

“We are climbing a fucking mountain.” Thomas reiterated as if Harry hadn’t heard him the first fifty times. Harry looked at the blood welling along the slice and reached into his pocket to grab a hankie to wrap around it. He inspected the rock, pulled out his gun and hit it with the handle knocking the sharp piece loose. He replaced his gun, allthewhile listening to Thomas bitch, and grabbed the rock with his blood on it to put it in his pocket. It wouldn’t do to leave so much of himself behind in the Nevernever, not with all the enemies he had.

“Why are we climbing a fucking mountain?” Thomas whined again.

“Because I knew this was exactly what was required to turn you into a sniveling woman.” Harry climbed a few more feet and hauled himself up to the ledge. He looked around and saw a pulsing handprint. “We’re here.”

He turned back and held his hand out to Thomas, who instantly took it and pulled him up. “Really?” Thomas brushed his hands off on his pants, saw it really hadn’t made a difference and scowled. Thomas saw the handprint and walked over to examine it. “Wow we found a glowing handprint. Stop the presses.”

Harry fitted his hand over top of the one on the rock, wondered if it would really be that easy and for once it was. A door slid open revealing a room so twisted to his senses he was driven to his knees. He said a few words, and a doorway to the real world appeared. Without a word, Thomas hauled him through it.

The room they were in was filled with gleaming metal and soft green light. In the center there was a cone hanging from the ceiling, and Harry knew that there wasn’t a single thing on this Earth that had created it. Not with how it had looked in the Nevernever.

Thomas reached out and trailed a finger over it. “What the hell is this?”

“I don’t think we are in Kansas anymore, Toto.” Harry staggered back as he spoke. He’d barely had a warning. but his coat was woven with protection and shielding spells that thankfully were enough to protect him from the very angry young man who was throwing energy balls at him. He grabbed Thomas, stood in front of him and raised his blasting rod.

Michael looked at the intruders warily. He had thrown his best shot at the guy in the leather coat and hit him dead on, but it hadn’t fazed him a bit. He was pretty sure he was fucked, but he wasn’t going to go down without a fight.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For those who don't know the Dresden Files I am giving out a few spoilers. Leanansidhe is Harry's God Mother and the place Liz is dreaming about is Arctis Tor, Mab's stronghold. In Proven Guilty Harry broke into the stronghold, discovered there had been a huge battle, hence the bones, and freed his apprentice Molly. While there he used Summer Fire to destroy one of Mab's minions. The destruction Liz is seeing is what was left in his wake.

Liz twisted restlessly; the sheets wound around her body were crusting over with ice as she sank further into her dream.

The landscape was frozen, harsh and unforgiving. Blinding white snow whipped and swirled around, slapping her face. There were mountains surrounding her, shrouded in mist, ice and more snow. The sky above her was dark and almost starless, the only light coming from an impossibly full moon. Liz turned and saw it looming over her and casting shadows on the land.

A massive structure of black ice, walls, a tower…everything ice. Yet within the ice danced lights that reminded her of the colors in the granolith room. The gate stood open, a single guard watched her carefully, its eyes following her warily as she started toward where he stood. It wasn’t human, it wasn’t even close to human but she didn’t know exactly what it was either. If this were a fairytale she would say it was a Troll or an Ogre but it wasn’t and she wasn’t about to try and give a guess.

As she stood in front of the creature it bowed low, and gestured for her to pass. Liz walked through the gate and saw destruction, or remnants of it along her path. Bones lay piled high against one of the pockmarked walls, there had been a battle here, a deadly one and it left an ache deep inside her. An ache coupled with a deadly and fierce rage. Even as she walked she could hear more bones cracking and crunching under her feet. Why had they not been disposed off? What was so urgent a task that the dead could not be honored? But there was no one to answer these questions, at least no one she could see.

The spire rose from the center of the courtyard and seemed to reach into the sky. Nothing moved, nothing breathed. There was nothing but bones, discarded weapons and ice. Liz looked at the doors and walkways that ventured off from where she stood and walked closer to the tower. It called to her. The black ice pulsed with amethyst and green light, a silent heartbeat pounding in time with hers.

Liz felt breathless, her chest tight as she reached out to lay her hand on the wall. The lights gathered under her hand, welcoming her as an oddly familiar consciousness brushed against hers. Images of the ages passed though her mind, images of pain, longing and death, images of people she didn’t know doing unspeakable things. Liz staggered under the weight of what the walls were imparting, and just as it became too much it stopped. She sighed, stroked the wall and whispered thanks. In return it opened a door, revealing a twisting staircase.

She turned back to the courtyard, looked at the bareness and knew her only choice was to climb. It felt like hours, turn after turn after turn, her legs leaden and heavy when she reached the landing. Liz panted for a moment and headed to the door. The walls by her were damaged here too, the lights fluttered weakly in areas and she couldn’t help but wonder what had happened here.

The door opened for her before she even touched it, and wonderment filled her. A garden, frozen timeless and perfect lay before her. Birds trapped in a moment, colors forever vibrant a perfect perched on trees, roses that would never fade and always in full bloom captured her attention.

As she turned to the left the illusion was shattered. Melted and refrozen ice had distorted the garden’s beauty, and turned it in to the stuff of nightmares. Even the statues weren’t unscathed. Liz moved closer, the fountain trickled loudly in the background as she reached out to touch the ice encrusted statue of a red head in front of her.

Green eyes with catlike irises opened, blinked and focused on her. Liz stumbled backwards as she realized these weren’t statues at all but prisoners. She turned in a circle saw three women standing back to back, a couple sitting by the fountain, a man crucified on a tree and wondered if this too was her fate.

“No, my future queen, this will be your domain and our fate shall be determined by you.” The odd red headed woman with cat like eyes spoke, the rhythm and cadence of her voice was comforting, yet at the same time completely disconcerting.

“Your Queen?” Liz was confused. “I know only one Queen and …”

“Bah, a half breed who does not belong on this world holds no sway here, nor does her assumed title count for anything.” The green eyes were tinged with madness now. “I am Leanansidhe, second only to the Queens of Winter in stature and in power. I know of which I speak. You will be my Queen.”

Liz heard a sound behind her, quickly turned as she did she bumped in the man hanging on the tree. He groaned, opened his eyes only to reveal he’d been blinded. Liz covered her mouth with her hand, refusing to scream and satisfy whoever was doing this to her. When some touched her…

Sitting up abruptly in bed Liz looked around her room. It was dark but somehow she could see everything as clearly as if it were day. She was alone, it had been a dream and she wished Michael were here to sooth away the ice in her chest.


	8. Chapter 8

“Hey Kid,” Harry yelled toward the young man attacking him. “We can stand here all day or you can tell us where the hell we are and how you are doing that.” Harry heard the kid snarl and knew it was the wrong tactic. Another energy blast hit his shield, skittered around the edges and he staggered back a bit, his back bumping against Thomas. “That was stronger than the last two,” he murmured to his brother.

“How is that possible?” Thomas hated standing behind Harry, letting him do all the fighting. His hand caressed the handle of his kukri knife; he was itching to use it again.

“He’s not using magic.” Harry concentrated, and pushed out with his senses. He could feel the warped nature of the room coloring his perceptions but the kid was warped a bit too. “He isn’t human. Well, not entirely anyways.”

“Not human? Well than what in the name of all that is unholy is he?” Thomas paused, “Wait don’t tell me, he is kin to E.T., right? That is what you are trying to tell me. Hells Bells, first a fucking mountain, and now aliens.” Thomas peeked out around Harry, and a blast almost took off his nose. “I need a new job.”

“Lily told us what we would find, in her not so subtle fairy way.”

“Yeah, well, who knew she would be right?”

Harry shook his head; his brother was clearly insane. “Look, kid, I am not your enemy, and whatever you think I am, I am not.” Another blast hit his shield, this time weakening it slightly. “I am looking for a girl, Elizabeth Parker; she’ll be changing, hurting and I am here to help her.”

Michael let the other man’s words sink in. He wasn’t big on trust but… “How do you know about Liz?”

“I’ve been sent to help her, to ease the way for the change or help her resist it, whatever she chooses.” Harry was elated; this kid knew Parker girl. Harry lowered his shield as a show of trust and waited.

“Harry…” Thomas hissed, and braced his body for an attack.

The room was silent; Harry could hear his heart pounding in his chest as he waited for the kid to decide.

Distrust, hope, need, anger, fear all rolled around in Michael’s gut, an explosive mix just waiting to go off as he tried to decided. Liz needed help; he couldn’t give it to her, and neither could Jeff. Michael took a deep breath and stepped out around the corner. “I can take you to her, but if you aren’t on the level, I can and will kill you both. Even if I have to ask for help to do it.”

Thomas watched the young alien carefully as he walked toward them. He was far less trusting than his brother. Beside the monster that lived within him paced restless, hungry, demanding, no screaming for a taste of the boy. He was a White Court Vampire; they didn’t discriminate between the sexes, races or apparently humans and aliens either. In fact, if anything he was hungrier just knowing he might be the first to ever taste something as unusual as the boy. He moved away from Harry, and Michael, not that the other side of the chamber was that exciting, but it was better than standing there smelling the scent of worry/fear/anger/need/prey coming off the boy in waves. He felt Harry look at him, his brother’s eyes rested heavily on him for a moment before nodding. Harry understood, in part…as well as someone who didn’t have the hunger could. He would have keep his distance and resist. He was used to being hungry; this wasn’t something new. Thomas closed his eyes for a moment; he was so weary, so tired of being hungry all the time. He couldn’t wait to get back to Chicago and feed.

He watched Michael and Harry bristle around each other for another moment before he’d had enough. “Harry.” He put a wealth of words into his brother’s name and knew from the way Harry’s eyes narrowed he’d received the message.

The alien youth glared at him, his scorn filled expression did nothing to mask all the delicious smells coming off of him, before turning to Harry. “I’m Michael.”

“Right, Michael, I’m Harry Dresden.” Harry paused and considered what to tell the young man in front of him. “I’m a wizard.”

Michael snorted. Just his luck the guy was a nutcase. “A Wizard? Right. Pull the other leg.” Harry made a move to interrupt but Michael stopped him, “Look I don’t care what the hell you are, as long as you can help Liz.”

Harry nodded, “I can help her.”

“Fine, then I’ll take you to her.” Michael turned toward the door than stopped. He looked toward Thomas and his eyes narrowed, “Who are you?”

“I’m with him.” He jerked his thumb toward Harry, who glared at his response. He looked at Michael and saw a matching glare; ah, the joys of the doom and gloom crowd. “Fine, I’m Thomas Raith. Your friendly neighborhood Incubus.” Thomas smirked as he finished.

Michael shook his head, “Whatever, man, I don’t even care. If you’re with the wizard, and you are helping Liz, that is all that matters. I…ah borrowed Jeff’s car, so you boys are in luck.” He turned around and looked at them as the door of the pod chamber slide open letting in the bright desert moonlight. “Although, I would have loved seeing both of you trying to ride bitch on my bike.”


End file.
